Stolen Old Masters return to Verona

Verona, December 21 - Seventeen Old Master paintings worth an estimated 15-20 million euros stolen from Verona's Castelvecchio Museum in 2015 have been returned to their rightful place, officials said Wednesday. The Renaissance canvases touched down at 18:03 on a flight from Kiev, where Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko handed them over to Culture Minister Dario Franceschini and Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi this morning. The paintings were discovered buried in a wood in Ukraine near the Moldavia border last May. An Italian and Moldavian gang made off with the 17 paintings in November 2015. The loot included Andrea Mantegna's Holy Family with a Saint, Pisanello's Madonna of the Quail, Peter Paul Rubens' Lady with Campions, and six Tintorettos. On December 5 this year, a Verona court handed down prison sentences totalling 31 years against four of the gang members for armed robbery and kidnapping conspiracy. Pasquale Silvestri Ricciardi was sentenced to 10 years eight months, his twin brother Francesco got 10 years, his Moldavian girlfriend Svetlana Tkachuk got six years and her fellow national Victor Potinga was sentenced to five years in prison. Defendants Denis Damaschin from Italy and Anatolie Burlac from Moldavia earlier plea-bargained sentences of three years four months and one year eight months, respectively.